Diablo 2 - Rogue Encampment / Desert | Reacting To Video Game Music!
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Thanks to Justin & Vaxell for the request!
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#Diablo2 #Diablo #Reaction - Ігри
"...like we shouldn't be here." Is an excellent way to describe the zone of the game. Good intuition my man!
Rogue Encampment is the first town you spawn in to when you start a new character or difficulty. The Rogue's used to live in a Cathedral but demons/monsters took it over, so Act 1 is kind of like helping them clear that out. Diablo 2 is peak Blizzard.
Great explanation while avoiding any spoilers.
The line about being run out of a place was fairly spot on.
I still remember being deeply shocked by all the dead bodies D2 really stepped up the violence.
@@Malacite Mephisto's lair is far more brutal, its like more dead bodies and river of blood
incredible game , absolutely incredible.
This is as nostalgic as it gets for me
For me it's Spiders from Diablo 2.
Diablo II has a leitmotif, that's the most memorable melody. (You can hear it in Tristram and Desert.)
Nice can't overstate how good the osts from diablo 1 and 2 still are ! Ambient is damn right! Perfect to set the "mood"!
Its a pure action-rpg (a-rpg), hack n slash subgenre basically. That's how the genre was born. Was crazy playing this (first game as a ~13 year old) Loads of fun and hack n slash and yeah, iconic is an understatement. The sound fx in these games was absolutely insane and mindblowing in how much they blended with the whole music and the overall mood. Atmosphere was a HUGE deal in these games for the record. Its what kept people playing them and loving them for so long. Integral to the franchise. In that regard (atmosphere) no words can even begin to describe what the first game felt for someone in 1996. Revolutionary in so many ways.
A few words that come to mind with diablo music are eerie, haunting, creepy, moody, dark, brooding, mysterious, chilling and also rotten, despair, abandonment, hellish even psychedelic/trippy at times, depending on the tracks chosen and the area they are played in. The music that plays in the city is usually to sooth, relax the hero, after all the action. So in that sense there can be some difference in tracks. The more ethereal ones are usually in cities and serve as short breaks. All the rest of the music is basically depending on areas/regions while exploring/slashing monsters for the most part.
In my opinion the music for this genre, is still unparalleled and goated in these 2 first games. It has never been surpassed again and I've played and listened to a lot of a-rpgs. None captivate as much as these games managed to do. It is what it is, not every success can be replicated.
As soon as you exit the Rogue Encampment: "All who oppose me... beware." - Necromancer
Of course, the best Necro line occurs a bit later in the same act:
"Treasure hunting? Pfft. Treasure FINDING? Yeees."
The reason Rogue Encampment sounds so similar to Tristram is that it is the very first thing the player hears once they make their character. Matt chose to invoke that familiar feeling of unease. To backtrack a bit Tristram is actually the main town theme from the first game. Both locations are towns, safe locations in the dangerous world of Diablo, but also both very troubled and foreboding.
Over all the OST is very ambient if we compare it to an action game, but still bold and not afraid to stand out occasionally. It has a good variety and every track is essential for the corresponding area. I would say that in fact many of the tracks are remembered very precisely. This is a game that is played for hundreds of hours and some of the locations are revisited constantly.
As soon as you asked for percussions I knew you'd find extremely ironic what was coming next!
Even though I put like 2000 hours into D2 I haven't listened to these songs in a long time because once you get to a certain point of absentmindedly farming for loot it just becomes a podcast game, so I usually had the music off while listening to other stuff. Not quite as eternally listenable to me as Starcraft but still fits the atmosphere well.
Diablo is a very action heavy game. It is mostly fighting lots of enemies in search for better equipment to get even better at fighting them. They left out all the stuff that made RPGs in that time hard to access and streamlined it to an accessible hack and slash action RPG with an addictive loot grind mechanic. Diablo 2 has aged well, if you are new to the series there is even a good remaster.
Yeah, it's a desert theme but it encompasses so many biomes. Your sandy desert, your rocky desert, your desert oasis, your abandoned half buried in sand city, your Indiana Jones-esque temples inhabited by primitive killers, and even a part where a solar eclipse comes out of nowhere so you're in pitch blackness far deeper than night.
Oh, I'm so happy about this! 🤩 I remember talking about Rogue Encampment on the Tristram video with the original requester, so it's super cool to see it on the channel for realsies. What's so striking to me about this track is that it's such a patchwork of musical ideas bound together by a lonely, desolate through-line, which is the absolute perfect sound for a refugee camp ekeing out a meagre existence in the wilderness after their home was decimated by evil.
"Greetings, young Sorceress." "Well met, noble Paladin." "A Necromancer...!" "Wow, so you're a Barbarian huh..?" "Well, well, I never expected to see an Amazon in these lands."
15:20 - It's funny you mention this, 'cause there's a part in the game where you're in the desert during an...interesting shift in time of day.
You nailed it that the music is ambient to the gameplay. In fact half the time when I look up the tunes I’m like “oh yeah, that was the music on that level.” One of the few that stood out to me while playing was the palace cellar music.
Glad you enjoyed the contrast between the two songs.
As Basic of a game as D2 is in hindsight, it’s honestly wild to me how very different the environments manage to feel and how their themes blend in.
There’s a lot of unease in the first region of the game because it takes place in a dark grasslands setting. The desert area is more wide open and MUCH less dark. You’re playing the game in the daytime desert Sun in this region, so you’re not supposed to be as apprehensive- like it’s a totally different vibe when you’re peering around every rock for demons versus running through the open desert.
Game is a third person isometric view so not quite top down but not over the shoulder perspective like FFVII Remake either. Your vision is limited, and the darkness will also obstruct your view, so having a wide open sunlit area means you’re less likely to get jumpscared by enemies.
Love the instrumentation in this theme. It's always great to get to hear new, cool music! =D
You're pumping out videos so much recently, really cool! =)
But always remember not to overwork yourself!
1:44 - 2:12 This is the part that always gets me. So majestic and beautiful.
Welp it's tied to my childhood and how i FELT D2's vibe back in the days with the few visuals i managed to have a look at and the time coincinding, but i always felt that this song was reminding me of the gypsy culture... My uncle was at the house when i first saw D2's visual and he's a bit of an improvising guy wearing large tissue pants, but the visuals played a role as well (i mean without spoiling there is tents everywhere, it's like you're already on the move) and visuals of the first region as well, very wild, barely human-explored... And the last has to do with the instrument choice. It's a cliché but acoustic instruments (especially the guitar) reminds me of gypsies because they're a one-band instrument and it doesn't need any electric installation, they're the perfect improvisation instrument, you can have (as the gypsy does again as a cliché) a whole party dancing around the fire if someone can play the guitar well enough. It's calling back memories and out of this time-clichés but that's why i feel this song being so reconforting : it's calling back to my childhood AND making me think of a party, a happy and simple place where everyone, rich or not, are together and having fun (even though the creepy and demonic elements are very present)
Hearing this always takes me back to organizing my stash. Ah, good times. They made a remastered version that is playable on PS5 or 4? The music Diablo 2 is all ambience, and it does it so well.
I basically built my first PC in order to play this game, Pentium 2 200mhz, voodoo3 3000 agp (16mb) video card, soundblaster X-Gamer soundcard, forget how much ram, either 128 or 256mb, learned a lot from that experience.
I love the smoke behind you, it made the songs even more mysterious. You are right, they are certainly eerie, there is a great evil lurking in the desert.
Man I got excited just hearing the queens blood jam in the intro lol, now I wanna play cards
This is bringing back to days of LAN parties with my friends, just stale pizza and Diablo 2
For percussions check out wilderness track, a very iconic percussion piece from d2
"maybe desert at night" Jesse really can tell how the game settings just by listening
It's absolutely ambient when it comes to the ost. Since Diablo 2's overall atmosphere I would describe as raw. Like, this a story about evil and you're gonna feel it. Without it feeling overbearing. Just creeping horror and eerieness.
who went through the suffering of trying to play this game together with your friends through a 56k modem? xD damn this game was amazing, had so much fun with it
The title called Sanctuary (I think it's called that in diablo2, on Spotify it is) is soooo good. One of my favorites.
Es brutalmente nostálgico. La de horas que estuve comprando y vendiendo armaduras.
Diablo 2 needs some love from fresh faces :) Diablo 2 Resurrected released a couple of years ago as a remaster/remake. I HIGHLY recommend playing it if you like ARPGs.
There's definitely some Pink Floyd inspiration in here
I've always prefered this type of music over the more orchestral stuff that the newer games go for. I always felt the older ones had more character.
All who oppose me...beware!
I summon my Necro brothers out there.
Ahhhh, Blizzard, before the merged with Activision.
22:15 I REALLY wish you would play it. However, I could see how it wouldn't be your thing. The story is so good, and the game itself is versatile, in the sense, that you can play it however you want. You can play it super slow exploring every nook and cranny, or you can speedrun the literal hell out of it. And, in case you are interested in the story later, avoid the cinematic compilations. The cinematics are amazing, but like Starcraft, the bulk of the story takes place outside the cutscenes which only portray crucial points in the story.
"I hear you bear us no Malus!"
good reaction and revew. Good job
Cave from D2 has some solid percussion
Diablo is pretty action heavy (IMO), combat heavy, going to Merchants to sell the items i've found, buying new equipment (or potions).
It was definitely described as an action-RPG back in the day.
This is a game that spawned a genre. The first game didn't, but the second one did. It would be worth buying this game, playing the first few minutes, and just getting a feel for what it is, even if you don't go further. The vibe is like nothing else, and they dispensed with it forever afterward.
I recomend "Harem", "Monastery" and "Jungle" soundtracks from this game, it's amazing!
Listening to this after so long I'm surprised to hear Rogue Encampment been quite creepy sounding actually. If I didn't know any better, I'd say I was wandering in a dark forest with only a torch. I don't remember if there actually is a forest in Act 1 or if it was just plains. I know Act 3 is a jungle. As for Desert aka Act 2 I love how it actually sounds like you ARE walking around a busy bazaar while also sounding somewhat mysterious.
Also Rogue music is almost a tribute to Triastam theme (its from Diablo 1)
Damn man… hearing this takes me back.
I would spend countless hours sitting in the Rogue Encampment sifting through loot and looking at skill trees and classes and loot.
The two places are sorta semi close to each other. Like the same grasslands region.
Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 are very heavy dungeon crawler type ARPG games. You’re trying to delve into these hellish ruins, mystical tombs, and literally hell itself.
I don’t know if it’s a game you’d enjoy, but I get the vibes that you might like it from a casual perspective. People go WAY too hardcore into these type of games, but 1 and 2 are fantastic dungeon crawlers.
Id say look up some gameplay of them going through the world.
The original Diablo essentially invented the ARPG genre - in a different universe, they'd all be called Diablo-likes. The first one is recommended, but it's quite a bit slower-paced than 2 and everything that happens in it is summarized in a cutscene at the start of the second game, if you're looking for a good place to jump in (and stop, since 3 and 4 are... not great)
Genres always start as clones until the variety and diversity becomes too broad. Reminder that we used to have Doom-likes and Quake-likes, then it became impossible to define first-person shooters only by the ones that came before them. Arpgs are the same.
As far as I can tell, Diablo 1 can be boiled down as the first 'real-time' (ish) rogue-like, which is what I would consider one of the main defining factors in the "action" part of arpg lineage. The other major element that defined the genre is in how itemization was done in that game, especially the color-coded tiers of rarity. The only other I can think of that kind of preceded it was the first Mystery dungeon game (technically not the first, but the first that mattered), but it sticks more closely to the original Rogue formula, rather than building upon and then establishing the standards that the genre would follow later on. Mystery dungeon and its spin offs remain their own little quirky things simply because of its devotion to the original concept. It never outgrew its roots. Of course, there are other games that were action-focused with rpg-elements but did not really influence the genre the same way for whatever reason, many of which are filed away in the action/adventure, CRPG or JRPG genre because genre naming conventions are a mess.
What's interesting is you can really notice the turn-based roots specifically in Diablo 1, because everything moves/acts like turns are taking place, but the game doesn't wait for you to decide what to do, and the "timer" for each turn of actions is basically instant. You have to react spontaneously like an action game, but it still has some quirks that prevent it from feeling like later arpg games, or a "true" action game with rpg systems, because it follows so closely to its pen and paper ideology in most respects. For example, character building is more open-ended, everything snaps onto a grid or into specific tiles, plus players and enemies can't occupy the same space, but rather simply interact with adjacent spaces, like pieces on a chess board. This is how Rogue or how a mystery dungeon game plays. It might not be obvious in retrospect, but Diablo 2 played a huge role in codifying what constitutes an arpg today. It is not just the peak of the formula, but it is what really polished and perfected the concept altogether.
Oh shit, this one almost slipped me by. Man, Diablo II has such a killer soundtrack. I think that the only 'big' track you've got to cover imo is Wilderness, to me is the only one that can catch up to Tristram.
D2 is a sort of action-RPG, think of it as a sort of top-down Dark Souls but more forgiving. It could vibe with you since it has lots of things to explore at your own pace, but there are points where a lot is happening at once, especially some bosses. The gameplay loop is simple, but that's what I think would better fit for you to play it for yourself rather than on-stream since the world you explore and the trials you find, paired with the music, can give you that sense of 'hell' you mentioned when reacting to Tristram. Diablo II is a game to get lost in and take in the atmosphere, which is better than its gameplay after so many years since its release. Not that the game is bad but for me it's kind of like Etrian Odyssey where the regular gameplay scratches one niche itch and the feel of adventure carries a lot of the experience if you get immersed in it. D2 could work if you're looking for a chill game to vibe with, and there's definetely ways to cheese certain fights if you get stuck,
It's crazy how much attention to detail went into this game. Really makes me pine for the old Blizzard.
I don't care who this might annoy, but I want to actually give massive credit to Diablo 4 in this regard - say what you will about the game, it does a fantastic job of visually and musically honoring D2.
And the Diablo series is classified as Action RPG / Looter
*EDIT: Couldn't think of the name, Gale Valley is my favorite track from D4 and is incredibly reminiscent of D2.
Every time I hear any acoustic guitar in Diablo I instantly think Slayer 'Seasons In The Abyss'
EDIT: Poncho Jesse is quite possibly best Jesse. Just felt like I had to mention that lol
Diablo 2 soundtrack is peak gaming music
Diablo 2, legendary as it is, would be in no way as impactful to me without the music. It's so crucial in creating and evoking that feeling of despair, horror and mystery.
do 'wilderness' !
The music is that airy and confusing, because that's the nature of the evil in those games. It's an evil lingering below and from the shadows slowly crawling into the people, corrupting everything. Heroes constantly fight and claim little victories, so you sometimes have that lightweight or epiphany feeling in the music, but overall just much happening, hard to catch, an oppressive weight that's not thick enough to grasp :)
"There was this youtuber who was checking out videogame music and learning it on guitar right away"
You talking about HurtboxTV? I loved his stuff, though I don't think he's doing much for that kinda thing anymore
ua-cam.com/video/ECsMMUaZka4/v-deo.htmlsi=URjK2GWLGmsP8eiJ
@@JessesAuditorium Oh aight, wasn't sure if you found them since I didn't see a link anywhere yet. Glad you did, and it was a good watch.
MATT uleman is a genius!
Diablo II is actually an action RPG, with the looking over the shoulder and moving around and all of that, so you were actually quite off there.
Other good tracks from Diablo 2: Harem, the Docks and Wilderness.
World of Warcraft has very little in common with Diablo, that probably isn't the connection. But before WoW, there was just plain Warcraft, a series of real-time strategies. WoW continues from the world and storyline of those games, IIRC.
Also, you might've heard of a little game called Starcraft. That's also Blizzard, and was originally basically Warcraft...IN SPACE!
Diablo is something completely different in genre, art style, mood, music. Blizzard is pretty versatile, or at least they used to be, back in the day.
Well, Diablo wasn't originally Blizzard's so that might explain it. Blizzard bought the studio and they became Blizzard North.
Starcraft is not Warcraft in space! It's much more sophisticated!
@@thisismyname1940 I know, I was just oversimplifying.
@@Antis14CZ ua-cam.com/video/P4MHr2NcZGA/v-deo.html
Desert is in 7/8
Ah, I was hopiing you would take a listen to "wilderness" if you were to check out more diablo. Rogue encampement is good, but it's not that diferent
Just go play Diablo 2 resurrected where they did a graphics upgrade 21 YEARS LATER & sold 5 million copies. It's fun but not too time consuming.
Diablo is basically a point and click game
Diablo 2 has great musics indeed..., you should listen "wilderness", it s far more better..., in my point of view at least
If only Somebody asked Jesse to hear "Dungeon" from D1 and "Wild" from D2.
IMHO peak of these to games, Like Good above good... that was a good time. 🥲